Transparent amber color with a slight sticky head. You can see right through it. I can't remember the last time I had a beer like that. Really dank, weedy, earthy hops with undertones of citrus on the nose. Upon tasting, the maltiness comes first. Not really getting any golden raisins, and I'm not sure what their role is in this. Bitterness is evident. Also dryness. At 9%, alcohol is noticeable. Mouthfeel has a medium body and lightly carbonated. Overall, disappointed and not really getting how this all goes together. In other words, I'm glad I just bought the single. (574 characters)

T - A sharp bitterness up front with grassy and earthy flavours. The malt backbone provides a good balance. The golden raisins are slightly evident. There is a strange somewhat off-putting sweetness that I can't pinpoint, that I assume is from the raisins. The bitterness returns in the finish.

M - Medium body with some good sticky hop oils. Moderate carbonation.

O - This wasn't a bad beer, but wasn't a good one either. Interesting enough to try once but not to buy again. (785 characters)

I picked up a bottle of Short's Raisin Apollo last week for $2.09 at The Lager Mill. A DIPA brewed with Raisins peaked my interest so I just had to pick up a couple bottles as soon as hit the stores, so lets see how it goes. No visible bottling date, but I know it's fresh. Poured from a brown 12oz bottle into a imperial pint glass.

A- The label on this beer for sure sticks out, not a big fan of the almost naked dude, but when you work for Short's and wear a cape you can do whatever the hell you want. It poured a nice slightly hazy caramel amber color with two and a half fingers worth of fluffy off white head that died down to a thick ring that stayed till the end and left some nice rings of lacing. This is a great looking beer, no complaints here.

S- The aroma starts off with sweet malts that impart some nice grainy, brown bread and caramel aromas. Next comes a big earthy aroma with some slight hints of raisins. The hops are dank, earthy and a little citrusy, a pretty unique hop combination. There aroma is nice and little different from the normal DIPA.

T- The taste seems to be pretty similar to the aroma. The first thing that I picked up was the hops which imparted some earthy, dank, and slightly citrus aspects that I picked up in the aroma, these Apollo hops are quite different from the usual hop profile you get in DIPA's. The hops imparted a pretty high amount of bitterness in the middle. Next came some malts that weren't as sweet as they were in the aroma and impart some grain, brown bread, and caramel flavors that combine with some raisin and earthy flavors that come from the golden raisins. This was a good and unique tasting DIPA.

M- A little smooth, a little sticky, dry, on thick side of being medium bodied, and it had a nice medium amount of carbonation that suited this beer nicely. The mouthfeel worked well with this beer, I don't think there is anything about it I would change.

Overall I thought that this was a good beer and a pretty good and unique DIPA that seems to take this style in a different direction that most brewery's dare not tread, I like that. This beer went down smooth but with the high amount of bitterness I think two would be more then enough for me for the night. What I liked most about this beer was the appearance and how different this beer turned out with addition of Apollo hops and golden raisins. What I liked least about this beer was the high amount of bitterness, I know it's a DIPA and it's suppose to be bitter but it got to be a little too much and if it was toned down a little it would really help the drinkability. I would for sure buy this beer again, I already went back to the store and got two more and I see a couple more in my future before this beer is all sold out for the year. If your tired of the typical heavily citrus hopped DIPA's give this one a try, it takes the style in a different direction that isn't half bad. Once again Short's impressed me and seems like they do what they always do and take the path less traveled and I thought that worked out pretty well, there are more then enough citrusy DIPA's to go around, give me something different and on the other side of the spectrum, and that's exactly what they did, good job guys. (3,240 characters)